The oxazolidinones are a class of orally-active, synthetic antibacterial agents. 3-Phenyl-2-oxazolidinones having one or two substitutions on the phcnyl ring are known. For one substitution see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,801, 4,461,773, 4,340,606, 4,476,136, 4,250,318, 4,128,654, Re 29,607, EP Publication 0 312 000, J. Med. Chem., 32, 1673 (1989), J. Med. Chem., 33, 2569 (1990) and Tetrahedron, 45, 1323 (1989). Compounds of this type include the antibacterial DuP 721, see J. Med. Chem., 32, 1673 (1989).
3-[(di- or fused-ring substituted)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinoncs are reported in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,977,173, 4,921,869 and 4,801,600; EP Publications 0 316 594, 0 184 170, and 0 127 902; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,510 and WO91/07409.
The present invention is 3-[(di- and tri-substituted)phenyl]-2-oxazolidinones which are effective as antibacterial agents. The compounds of the invention are characterized by oxazolidinones having an aryl or heteroaryl group at the p-position of the 3-phenyl ring and additional substitution(s) at the m-position of the phenyl ring with radicals having an electron-withdrawing effect. These compounds are surprisingly effective as antibacterial agents, since early work by Gregory, et at, in J. Med. Chem., 33, 2569 (1990) suggests compounds having such radicals in the p-position of the phenyl ring are less effective antibacterial agents.
Synthesis of 3-phenyl-2-oxazolidinones and derivatives thereof are well known in the art. However, due to the nature of the radicals, the substituted phenyls of the invention are difficult to synthesize. Thus, we also disclose a process by which the compounds of the invention may be synthesized.